EU parliamentarian to pay own cost for trip to Canada

OTTAWA — A Greek politician visiting Canada to talk about the EU’s climate policies will pay his own travel costs, says a spokeswoman for Climate Action Network Canada, which co-ordinated the trip.

The coalition of Canadian environment, labour and faith-based groups said Wednesday that it was sponsoring the trip of Kriton Arsenis. But Arsenis, a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats — the second-largest group in the European Parliament — later told the Canadian group he would reimburse it for the travel and accommodation expenses.

Arsenis has said that proposed legislation in the European Parliament would not single out Canadian oil producers as the federal government has claimed, but would instead discourage consumption of any fuel with a higher environmental footprint than conventional oil.